Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-03-15
SHOOTING AN OIL WELL.
Curious spsctaeies Incident to Natural
Gas Production-Dangerou Work.

Gas observation-disclosures Work.
For two hours recently | stood in
bleak wind to witness the process Of
showing an oil well. This is accom-
plished by letting down with a strong
wire, ON a windlass, tin tubes about three
inches in diameter and fourteen feet long,
filed with nitro-glycerine. Each of these
tubes will hold about twenty quarts Of
the liquid. Ii the blast is to be made at
the bottom Of the well, then the first can
or tube is let down TO rest upon the bot
ton but il the stratum of rocks which il
is desired TO shoot be above the bottom,
as is frequently the case, then smaller
tubes are fastened upon the first charged
tube for a support. These may he thirty
or fifty feet long, or even more. The
lower end of this tube, of course, rests on
the bottom Of the well, and sllstains the
charged tubes, which are carefully let
down one upon the other until sixty.
eighty, or even hundred quarts are thus
deposited. In doing this every move
ment must he made with the utmost care,
and is attended with great danger.
The liquid weighs about four pounds
10 the quart. hence a great weight must
be provided for. On the upper end of the
topmost tube an explosive cap is placed.
The charge is exploded by dropping an
iron slug, called, in the nomenclature of
the oil country, "go devil" Cautious
persons keep at good distance. The
operator gives the alarm and lets the slug
drop. In a well 1000 feet deep, filed
with gas or oil, the weight may be twen-
ty or even twenty-five seconds in de-
scending. If the well is clear of course
its descent is more rapid. The first SEN
sation one feels is heavy thud. like the
dropping Of a great weight on the rocks.
The next trembling Of the ground, and
then rushing roar. followed by hoarse.
weird. prolonged whistle. ending in
slight explosion. and stream Of sand.
oil. water. pulverized "go devil" and
tubes. and black gas goes shrieking into
the air in dense column 100 feet or
more, and all is over.
If the blast is an effective one il is inn
mediately followed by flow Of oil or
gas Often a dead and worthless well
will at once begin to flow after the shock.
One well near Butler that was dead and
thought worthless was awakened to ac-
tivity by heavy blast and rewarded the
owner with flow of 200 barrels Of oil
daily.
A sixty quart blast costs the owner of
the well about 800 including the labor
OF placing il. This labor, as has been
said, is attended with great danger.
Sometimes. when the well is full of gas,
the torpedo, after descending few hun
dred feet, will be driven violently out of
the well. In that case it is certain to ex-
plode by hitting the timbers of the der
rick or when it reaches the ground in its
descent. In either case general destruc-
tion of everything is certain.
Sometimes, upon the explosion of
torpedo in well. large volume Of oil is
thrown into the air. This is often sight
of surprising beauty. the oil breaking as
il falls into countless drops and each drop
becoming prism to reflect the suns rays
in matches coloring.
So far the gas wells and oil wells are
treated alike.-Ch Chicago Tribune.